What if Asylum
by Katy M VT
Summary: Do you really think dad sent us a text, Dean? The man can barely use a toaster." What if the text wasn't from their dad? Major Sam whumpage. Chapter 10 of 10 up. Extra chapter added by request.
1. Text and Answer

Come on, Dean. Do you really think dad sent us a text message? The man can barely work a toaster." Sam whined.

"He's sent us coordinates before." Dean answered.

"Dean, we don't even know for sure if the coordinates are from him," Sam countered.

"Sam, Dad wants us in Illinois, we're going and that's that!"

"Fine," Sam sulked.

2 hours later after a strained, silent car ride, they arrived in Rockford, IL. "Where are we supposed to be going?" Sam asked.

"Well, you know the drill when we're separated. Go to the first hotel in the Yellow Pages and look for Jim Rockford," Dean answered.

"Fine, I'll run in and see if they'll let me look at their Yellow Pages while you fill the tank."

Sam emerged from the convenience store a few minutes later. "Well?" Dean asked.

"Aaron's Way Motel, 2 blocks over." Sam responded.

When they got to the motel, they went inside and asked the desk clerk if a Jim Rockford was staying there.

"Yes, he told me that if two men in their twenties, came in looking for him, to give them a key and let them into the room. He says you're his sons."

"That's right," Dean beamed. "Did he say when he would be back?"

"Tomorrow morning. He said to make sure you got some rest as tomorrow would be a busy day."

"Thank you," Dean said as he took the key from the man.

"OK, well you heard the man, we're supposed to get some sleep and it's just after midnight now."

"I can't believe we're finally going to see dad after all this time," Sam said. "I'm kind of nervous. I haven't seen him in over four years and then he kicked me out of the house."

"It's going to be fine. Trust me." Dean reassured his brother. "Now, go to sleep."

Dean turned off the lights and fell asleep fairly quickly. Sam lay awake, tossing and turning. He was so nervous. He wished he could sleep. For one thing, then he wouldn't be worried, and for another thing the last thing he wanted to do was piss his father off the second he saw him again because he was tired on a hunt. He thought he heard a hissing sound and wondered what it was. Then he realized it must be a gas leak, as he smelled some kind of strange smell.

"Dean," he said, sitting up.

The second he got to a full sitting position, he realized something was wrong. He felt very sick and tired. Before he knew it, he was falling back onto the bed unconscious.


	2. Snared

Dean woke up with a headache wondering where he was. He started to sit up, when he realized that he couldn't. His hands were cuffed to the head of the bed, his feet were tied together, and their were bindings strapping his chest to the bed. He also noticed that he was gagged. He looked over to find Sam in the same condition.

"mrmfm" Dean said, trying to wake Sam.

Sam moaned and turned to look at Dean.

"mrfmn," Sam answered. Oh that was helpful, he thought.

Just then the door opened and two men walked in. "Good morning," one of them said. "I trust you had a goodnight's rest."

Dean gave him an evil look, which the man just laughed at.

"Here's the deal. We need your help with something. I'm going to remove your gag so that we can discuss this, but if you yell for help, we'll kill little Sammy here," he said with an evil grin. He walked over to Dean and took the gag off, while his partner walked over to Sam's bed sat down on it, and placed the barrel of his gun on Sam's temple.

"Leave him alone," Dean demanded.

"Nobody's going to get hurt as long as you do exactly as we say. The problem we have is that as hunters, you two are going to be harder to control than your average hostage."

"Who are you? How do you know about hunters? What do you mean hostages?"

"First things first, Boy. We need to get some rules straight. First, no speaking unless you're answering one of our questions. Second, do what we tell you to do, when we tell you to do it. If you don't play by our rules, Sam pays the consequences. Understand."

Dean looked over at Sam. The other man had put away his gun and had a knife to Sam's cheek and was caressing him with it. Sam's eyes were wide with fear. Dean looked over at his captor and nodded.

"Good. Now, your father has something that we want. We know he's in the next town over, so the four of us are going to drive there, find him and get it."

"What does he have?" Dean asked.

The man looked over at his partner and he took his knife and cut Sam in the arm. Sam was still gagged, but he managed a pretty good grunt to register his pain.

Dean started to yell for Sam, but his guard put a hand over his mouth and said, "You broke the rules, you knew the penalty. Let that be a lesson."

"I'm going to let you up from the bed and you're going to get dressed. You're not going to speak, you're not going to move further than the foot of your bed, you're going to dress with all possible haste and when you are finished you are going to allow me to chain you back to the bed."

Dean nodded his acquiescence. He got dressed and got into the desired position. "Good boy," the man said and patted him on his head. "Now, your brother is going to get dressed."

Again Dean nodded. Instead of letting Sam all the way up, though, the guy that had been guarding Sam, who Dean decided to call Public Enemy number 1 or PE for short, took the chest strap off and undid the cuffs, but left Sam's feet tied. He helped Sam to a sitting position.

"Put on your shirt," PE demanded.

Sam complied. PE then handcuffed Sam's wrists behind his back and untied his feet. He took off Sam's sweats and put on his jeans, and then his sneakers.

"OK, we'll leave tonight. We happen to know that your father is on a hunt which will have him out of the room when we arrive, but probably back before dawn," Dean's guard announced. He seemed just like a prison guard and Dean decided to name him Alcatraz. "You're driving," he continued addressing Dean.

Alcatraz had replaced the gag in Dean's mouth and the day progressed agonizingly slow. At noon Alcatraz asked PE to go out and get some food. He came back with 3 burgers and 3 sodas. Alcatraz and PE each ate a burger and then Alcatraz ungagged Dean and removed one of his handcuffs. "Eat," he ordered, "We don't need you passing out from low blood sugar while you're driving."

"What about Sam?" Dean asked.

PE shook his head and said, "He just won't learn the rules will he?" He took his knife and made another shallow cut, this time on Sam's stomach. Sam whimpered.

"Eat," Alcatraz said. I won't tell you again. Dean ate the burger in silence and drank the soda.

Because it was winter time, it was fully dark at 6 p.m. "Time to go," Alcatraz announced. He uncuffed and ungagged Dean and let him up from the bed. PE did the same with Sam and then cuffed his hands behind his back.

The Impala was parked right outside the door. PE peeked out the door to make sure the coast was clear. He nodded back to Alcatraz. PE grabbed Sam's arm and propelled him out in front of him. He shoved Sam into the back seat and forced him to lie down face down. Then PE covered him with a blanket that he had brought out from the room.

"OK, we're going to go now. You're going to drive, you're not going to do anything to get pulled over and nobody gets hurt. Got it?"

"Yeah."

Once in the car, Dean glanced in the back. "Where's Sam?"

For an answer PE took his foot and jammed it down hard on Sam's back. Sam, still being gagged, only managed a muffled grunt.

"Shut up and drive," PE ordered.

"Which way?" Dean asked.

"Go right. We're about 15 miles down the road from where your dad is staying."

Dean wanted to ask him how he knew where their dad was and how he knew so much about his family's procedures, but he didn't want to cause Sam any more pain, so he kept his mouth shut.

25 minutes later, Alcatraz said, "Pull in here. This is his motel and his room's right there. Park next to it."

Dean did. Alcatraz got out and picked the lock looking to make sure nobody spotted him. Meanwhile, PE had dragged Sam to a sitting position, and placed his knife at his throat to ensure that Dean wouldn't try anything while away from Alcatraz's eagle eye.

Alcatraz returned and told Dean to get out of the car. PE and Sam followed them into the room. PE began to undo Sam's cuffs so that he could attach them to one of the beds. Alcatraz ordered Dean to the other bed so that he could secure him there. Dean hesitated. He couldn't let his dad walk into a trap. PE noticed the hesitation. He had just finished securing Sam and he grabbed Sam's right are at the wrist and the elbow and bent them until he heard a snap. Sam tried to scream, but the gag caught most of it.

"Leave him alone, you son of a bitch!" Dean scramed.

PE then took his knife and made a gash on Sam's cheek.

"You know how to stop it," Alcatraz said.

Dean nodded walked over to the bed and placed his hands around the headboard so that Alcatraz could cuff him. He was then gagged. He looked over at Sam to see him crying. The kid had to be in tremendous pain. These guys were so dead.

"I'm going to go move the car so that Daddy dearest isn't expecting anything when he comes in," Alcatraz informed PE.

"Good idea," PE confirmed.

Five minutes later, they heard the rumble of an engine, a car door opening and shutting. "That must be your dad," PE said. "We weren't expecting him quite so early." He went over to Sam and put his knife at his throat. "You make any noise at all to warn your father, I'll slit his throat," he whispered menacingly.

Dean stayed quiet. When it came to choosing between his dad and Sammy there was no choice. His dad always told him Sammy came first.

They heard a key turning in the lock, followed by John's surprised face, seeing Dean gagged and cuffed to the bed.

"Come on in, Johnny boy," PE said.

John looked over to see a man he had never seen before holding a knife to Sam's throat. Sam looked like he was in pain, but he couldn't be sure.

"Who are you, what do you want?" John asked.

"We know you have the colt, and we want it," PE responded.

John sighed. He couldn't give up the Colt, but at the same time, he couldn't let Sam be killed.

"Fine, here it is." John took it out of his waist band and placed it on the table next to him.

"Good, now turn around."

John complied just as Alcatraz walked through the still open door. Alcatraz took his gun and slammed it into John's head before John had a chance to turn around.

"Daddy can free you when he wakes up," Alcatraz said as he dug through John's pockets for his truck keys. "Let's go," he said to PE.


	3. Awkward Reunion

Several hours later, John began to stir.

Dean made a noise behind his gag to wake his father. He was worried about Sam who had passed out about an hour earlier.

John looked around him and everything came back to him. He got up and went to Dean taking off his gag. He grabbed his lock pick from his pocket and went to work on the cuffs. "Who were those guys?" he asked Dean.

"I don't know, dad, they didn't exactly introduce themselves. However, they did know about the Jim Rockford trick."

"What did the other guy look like, the one I didn't see?" John asked.

"He was tall, just a little shorter than Sam, and bald."

"Great, that sounds like George. I used to hunt with him until I realized he was a little off."

Dean snorted.

His father finished freeing him and went to Sam. As he took off Sam's gag, he began to rouse. "Dad, get him some water. Those bastards didn't give him anything to eat or drink all day yesterday."

As Dean started to remove the cuffs, Sam groaned. "Dean, that hurts."

"I know Sammy, but we have to get the cuffs off so we can get you to the hospital."

"We don't have time to go to a hospital, we have to go after the Colt," John said emerging from the bathroom with a glass of water.

Dean took the water from him and held it up to Sam's lips for him to drink. "Dad, Sam has a broken arm and some nasty cuts that might be infected," Dean protested.

"OK, we'll drop him off at the hospital and then go after those two guys," John compromised.

Dean sighed in annoyance, "Do you even know where they might have gone?"

"Yes, George has a cabin near here."

Dean reluctantly agreed to accompany his father. After all, he had to pay those guys back for what they did to Sam. He gently helped Sam up and realized he didn't know where the car was.

"Dad can you go find the car. George wasn't gone long when he moved it so it has to be nearby."

"OK, wait here."

Dean eased Sam back into a sitting position on the bed. "I'm sorry," Sam said.

"For what?" Dean asked.

"If it wasn't for me, you probably could have gotten away," Sam explained.

"Don't be ridiculous, Sam. Besides, if anyone is to blame, it's me. You were suspicious of the text, but I was so sure it was Dad."

"You know what I just realized?" Sam asked.

"What?"

"Dad hasn't said a word to me."

"What?"

"Dad. I haven't seen him in over four years, and he didn't say anything to me. He talked to you about me, but didn't say anything to me. He knows this is my fault and he's mad."

"That's not true. He just seems to have some odd fixation with this gun." Dean was puzzled by the whole situation. The gun looked old and rusty, what could be so special about it?

They heard the Impala pull up and Dean once again helped Sam to stand. They went outside and Dean helped Sam into the backseat and then slid in next to him.

Dad drove off in the direction of the hospital.

"Dad?" Sam said.

"Yeah," John answered.

"I'm sorry for that fight we had before I left for Stanford," Sam said.

"Don't worry about it," John replied gruffly. There was so much that he wanted to say, but he just didn't know how.

Sam looked at Dean. Dean had to admit he was right. This was very different than the reunion he had expected.

They pulled up to the hospital and John said, "OK, help him inside and them come right back out so we can go."

"Dad," Dean started to protest.

"It's OK," Sam hurriedly interjected. The last thing that he wanted was to antagonize his father further.

Dean helped Sam into the hospital, handed him off to a nurse explaining that he found him on the side of a street like that, to which Sam nodded, and went back out to join his father. He got in the front seat, stared straight ahead and didn't say a word.


	4. Attempted Recovery

"You sure we should be here," PE asked George.

"Yeah, John didn't see me and the kids don't know me. We'll be fine for a couple of days while we figure out how to destroy this gun."

"Why do you want to destroy it, you never said?" PE asked.

"It can be used to kill anything supernatural, that's true. But what most people don't realize is that it can also open the gates to hell. I would do anything to prevent that," George responded passionately.

"Yeah, sounds like a good idea," PE agreed.

John and Dean pulled up to the cabin. "What's the plan," Dean asked.

John didn't get a chance to answer because George was just coming out the front door. "We have to destroy this gun," George shouted at John.

"What? Why would you want to do that?" John asked confused. He had thought they either had something they wanted to kill or a buyer. He never imagined they wanted to destroy it.

"Because it can open the gates of Hell," he answered.

"Look, I don't know anything about that. All I know is that it can kill the demon that killed my wife. After it does that you can have it to do with as you please," John bargained.

"No way," George countered. "I can't take the chance that it will wind up in the wrong hands."

"Where's your partner?" Dean asked. He always liked to know where all the players were. So did his dad, it was weird he wasn't more concerned about that.

"When I saw you two coming up the road, I figured I would have a hard time destroying this gun without a fight."

"You got that right," John said.

"Still doesn't tell us where your partner is," Dean said impatiently.

"I sent him out the back while I distracted you. Burt told me he broke Sam's arm, so I figure you dropped him off at the hospital,"

Dean didn't stop to listen any further. His dad had left the keys in the Impala and Dean was already racing for the driver's side. "Dad, come on," he yelled.

"You go ahead, George and I have some business to discuss."

"No, Burt is going to call here in a few minutes when he has Sam and you are going to let me destroy this gun, or Sam's dead."

"Dad!" Dean implored.

George's cell phone rang. George answered it, "You got him?"

He nodded, smiling at John. Dean sagged to the ground.

"Let me go toss the gun in that wood chipper and we'll let Sam go."

"You expect me to take your word for it that you have him," John asked incredulously.

George spoke into the phone, "Put him on." A couple of seconds of silence and then, "Daddy wants to say hi, Sammy."

He handed the phone to John, "Sam?" John asked.

"Dad, I'm sorry I keep screwing up," he heard from the other end.

What? What was he talking about? Did he really think this was his fault?

"Sam, this isn't your fault," John reassured.

Dean looked up at hearing that. He was surprised his dad had said that the way he'd been acting. "How do I know you'll let him go?" John asked George.

"We let you guys go last time, didn't we?" George reasoned.

John nodded and George went over, threw the gun in the wood chipper and turned it on. It made horrific screeching noises, but when it was all over the gun was barely recognizable as such.

George took his phone back, "Let him go, it's done."

He hung up. John thought about attacking him but decided that wouldn't be wise when they didn't actually have Sam in their possession.

"Come on, Dean," he said to his son.

"Dad, what about him?" Dean asked. He couldn't let that bastard get away with what he had done to Sam.

"I'm reluctant to attack a man when I'm not sure he doesn't still have access to Sam," John said softly.

"Good point."


	5. Bait

"You know, Sam, my partner just told me to let you go," Burt said.

"Good, can you bring me back to the hospital?" Sam asked.

"No, I'm not letting you go," Burt informed him.

"What? Why not?"

"George was just in this to get his precious Colt. Me, I'm a mercenary. Your dad's good. I think he could help me with this museum robbery I've been planning," Burt explained.

"He'll never help you," Sam asserted positively.

"You better hope for your sake that you're wrong," Burt said as he started up his Jeep and started to drive. "I've got to get you underground…literally," he laughed.

Sam gulped. Was this maniac going to bury him alive? They drove for 2 hours before heading off the path and into the woods. "Where are we going?" Sam ventured to ask.

"You'll see. Now you've been a good boy and kept your mouth shut up until now, I suggest you continue that way, unless you want your other arm broken."

Sam shut up, his already broken arm was really causing him a lot of pain.

Fifteen minutes later Burt stopped. He got out and ran to the other side of the Jeep and opened Sam's door. "Get out," he ordered. "Now walk," he said when Sam was out of the car and pointed in the direction he wanted Sam to go. Sam stumbled a couple of times as he tried to trudge up the hill.

"This would probably go easier if you uncuffed my hands," Sam pleaded.

"No," Burt answered and took his gun stock and slammed it into Sam's stomach.

Sam grunted and went down on his knees. Burt walked ahead of him about 10 feet, reached down and pulled up an iron grating that Sam hadn't noticed. "Get in," Burt said, motioning to what amounted to an underground cage.

Sam struggled to his feet, but instead of heading toward Burt and the cage he tried to run in the other direction. Pretty stupid with only a 10 foot head start, a broken arm that was cuffed to his good arm, and a real big pain in the gut. Burt was on him in probably less than ten minutes.

"Looks like I need to teach you a lesson, boy." He grabbed a huge, sharply pointed rock and slammed into Sam's leg with it, breaking it. He then grabbed Sam under the shoulders, dragged him to the cage and unceremoniously shoved him in. "I'll be back in three days, boy. Then we'll call your daddy. We have to make sure he's good and worried about you." He clanged the cage door shut and locked it with a padlock. "By the way, don't worry about being disturbed. Hikers never come up here." Burt laughed as he walked back to the car.


	6. Anger Management

John and Dean pulled up to the hospital to inquire about Sam. They found out he hadn't been back. They waited a couple of hours and then headed back to the hotel. "Dad, where could he be? That Burt guy must not have let him go."

"Don't jump to conclusions, Dean, maybe he brought him back to the hotel, because he didn't want to have to deal with answering questions," John replied.

When they got back to the hotel room it was empty. They called everybody they could think of and nobody had seen him. John called George, "Where the hell is my son?" he screamed into the phone.

"I don't know, I told Burt to let him go. I'll call him and find out what's going on."

"You better, if I don't get my son back, you're dead," John threatened.

George hung up and called Burt. "Where's the kid?" he asked.

"Got him on ice," Burt replied. "Need a little favor from his dad."

"I promised John that you'd let Sam go if he let me destroy the Colt," George informed him.

"Shouldn't make promises you can't keep," was Burt's only reply as he disconnected the call.

George called John back, "Burt still has him, he said he need you to help him with something."

"What?" John asked.

"He didn't say."

"What's his number?" John asked.

George gave it to him, hung up and planned his disappearance. When John got Sam back, or didn't, there would be hell to pay and he didn't want to be on the receiving end.


	7. Negotiations

"What's going on, Dad?" Dean asked.

"Burt wants my help with something and he's using Sam as leverage."

"What does he want help with?"

"That's what I'm about to find out," John replied and began dialing Burt's number.

"Hello?" Burt answered.

"I want my son back," John demanded.

"Now, now, John, same rules as before. I'm in charge. By the way, his leg is broken now as well as his arm."

"What do you want?"

"All in good time. I'll call you in two days." Burt hung up the phone.

John was about to throw the phone into the wall, but realized that this was his only connection to Sam and managed to reign in his temper just in time.

"What?" Dean asked, seeing the look on his dad's face.

"He said he'd call in two days."

"Two days? Sam has a broken arm!" Dean exploded.

"And leg," John whispered.

"What?"

"Burt said he broke Sammy's leg."


	8. Threats

Two days later as John and Dean were pacing in their motel room, Burt headed back up the mountain to where he was keeping Sam. When he reached Sam's prison, he tossed in a couple of slices of bread. "I brought you food," he announced.

Sam hungrily ate the bread off the ground as best he could using only his teeth and Burt laughed, "You're like a caged wild animal."

He pulled out his phone and said "You're going to talk to your dad. Tell him to meet me outside the Cultural Heritage Museum at Midnight. There's something there we need to steal. Tell him to bring Dean, too."

He dialed the phone, put it on speaker and held it up for Sam. "Dad?" Sam asked when his dad answered.

"Sammy are you OK?"

"Yeah," Sam answered.

"Don't lie, kid, and get to the point," Burt growled.

"I'm supposed to tell you to meet him outside the Cultural Heritage Museum at midnight so you can help him steal something," Sam relayed the message.

"And?" Burt prompted.

"Bring Dean, too," Sam said.

"What are we stealing?" John asked.

"You'll find out when we get there," Burt responded. "Any questions?"

"How will we get Sam back after?"

"I'll tell you where he is and you can come get him."

"Fine, but you better not hurt him anymore."

"No reason to as long as I have your cooperation," Burt promised, and hung up the phone. To Sam, he said, "I think you have the right to know that I lied and I'll be back to shoot you as soon as the job is over. Only reason I don't do it now, is that if John does anything wrong, I want him to be able to hear you scream one more time."

Burt left and Sam started to sob quietly.


	9. Tracking

After spending the day with Dean coming up with a plan, John pulled up to the museum at 5 till midnight. Burt arrived 3 minutes later.

"Where's Dean?" he asked.

"Dean's not coming. It's bad enough you have one of my sons, but I won't put the other one in danger."

"Well, I'll have to make Sammy pay for that disobedience before I let him go," Burt said matter-of-factly.

"Let's just do this."

Burt and John broke into the museum to complete their job, while Dean snuck out of the shadows, and attached a tracking device to Burt's Jeep. He went back to his hiding and waited for his father and Burt to emerge from the museum, which they did 15 minutes later.

"You'll let Sam go?" John asked.

"I will," Burt lied, "I will have to hurt him for your disobedience, though."

"Please don't," John begged.

Burt laughed. "If I see you trying to follow me, I won't go back to him and he'll starve to death," Burt warned.

"I understand," John acquiesced.

As soon as Burt had left, John ran to join Dean. They followed using the tracking device and stayed far enough behind to avoid detection.

"He's turned off into the woods," Dean announced a few minutes later.

"We'll have to get out and hike in, we'll never make into these woods without four-wheel drive," John lamented.


	10. Saving Sam

Burt walked up to Sam's cage and said, "Sorry, son, looks like I'm going to have to hurt you before I kill you."

Sam sighed, "Why, what happened?" he asked.

"Guess you got the right to know why I'm hurting you," Burt conceded. "John didn't bring Dean with him."

Sam thought that that was good. The last thing any of them needed was Dean falling into this psycho's hands. Burt was unlocking the cage and he reached down to pull Sam out by his shoulders. Sam screamed. That really tugged on his broken arm.

About a mile away, that scream was heard by John and Dean. They began running and moment later, John's cell phone rang. "It's him, he's calling to let me hear Sam scream. I have to answer this and stall him while you get close enough to save Sam," John ordered.

Dean nodded and took off running even faster in the direction of Sam.

"Hello," John answered the phone.

"Hello, Johnny boy. Sam wants to say good-bye."

"What do you mean good-bye? I thought you said you were going to let him go after you hurt him," John said in a panicky voice. Please let Dean get there in time.

"Change of plans," Burt laughed.

He held up the phone to Sam.

Sam decided it was now or never. He hadn't seen his father in the last few years, except for briefly the last couple of days, and they hadn't had too much opportunity for talking. "I'm sorry, dad, and I love you," Sam said.

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" Burt mocked.

"Hey!" Both Burt and Sam turned to see Dean pointing a rifle at Burt. Burt turned his gun toward Sam and Dean pulled the trigger, killing Burt instantly.

"What's going on?" John yelled into the phone.

Dean was running over to Sam, "Are you alright?" he asked Sam while reaching for the phone.

Sam nodded. He didn't have the energy for anything else.

"I've got him, Dad," Dean reassured his father.

John sighed a breath of relief. Hang on, I'll be there in a couple of minutes to help you carry him out."

Dean hung up the phone and began to pick the lock on the cuffs. Sam moaned softly. "I'm sorry," Dean said.

"It's Ok," Sam assured him. "Just get them off, I feel like I've been wearing them forever."

Just as Dean finished freeing Sam, John appeared in the clearing. He paused for a moment, walked up to Sam, hugged him, and said, "I love you, too, and I'm sorry."

The End


	11. Hiking Out

Sam smiled at his dad, and Dean helped him to stand up. John supported Sam on the side of his broken leg and Sam threw his arm around him to steady himself. Dean went to the other side of him and wrapped his arm around his waist, careful not to hurt his broken arm. They slowly began to make their way out of the woods.

"How much further?" Sam asked. The pain that shot through him at each step was beginning to unbearable. He hated sounding like a whiney five year old, but he had to know.

"I think we've come about halfway, so about another half mile," John replied.

Sam sighed. Normally a half mile was no big deal, but he honestly didn't know if he could make it. But he would try. He didn't want to disappoint his dad again.

"Want to stop and rest for a few minutes?" Dean asked, concerned.

"No," Sam answered. Having to stand up again would be a huge ordeal, better to just get it over with.

Just then, John stumbled over a branch that he hadn't seen. He fell down taking Sam with him. "Aaah," Sam couldn't help letting a scream out.

"Sammy, are you OK?" Dean asked bending down. He didn't get a response.

John pulled himself from under Sam and into a sitting position. "Sam? Answer us!" John ordered.

"Dad, take it easy," Dean admonished.

"I'm sorry, Sam, but I'm worried about you. Can you please just tell us if you're OK."

Sam nodded, but there were tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Maybe we can carry him the rest of the way," Dean suggested.

John looked towards the edge of the woods and back down at Sam. "Yeah, we'll have to be careful, though. You take his legs, and I'll take his upper half."

They leaned down and helped Sam to lay straight. Dean gently put his arms around Sam's legs and waited for his father to get in position. John sat Sam up and put his arms under Sam's and nodded to Dean. They lifted Sam up. Sam groaned.

"Sorry," Dean and John both said. They then carefully made their way to the truck. After carefully picking their way through the woods, they arrived at the truck fifteen minutes later. They carefully placed Sam in the middle and Dean crawled in the passenger seat next to him. Sam fell back on him and tried to get comfortable. John got in on the other side and started the truck.

"I know a doctor a couple of towns over who has a son who's a hunter. He'll take care of Sam without getting us any unwanted attention," John said.

"Good," Dean nodded. "How are you doing, Sammy?"

"OK," Sam lied.

"Sure you are," Dean said.

Propped up against Dean, Sam fell asleep, feeling like part of the family for the first time since he left for Stanford.

The End


End file.
